The truth in the jade.

Yin Long set up his sign, but since he had spent most of his time just going through the martial library or training with Meiyu, there were actually preciously few people that even knew he existed within the dojo. As a result, no one actually stepped onto the stage and accepted his call for challengers.

But luckily for him, this lack of challengers only continued for a single day, during which Yin Long took the chance to go through some of the manuals he had acquired over time. As the dawn of the second day rolled around, a teenager who had reached the peak of the 9th Mortal Door stopped in front of the stone stage. He read the hand-made sign stuck into the ground, his gaze drifting over to Yin Long.

"You'll accept anyone, eh? I'm trying to work out the kinks in my new technique, you won't mind sparring, right?"

The teenager had needle-like black hair and shimmering blue eyes, his speech pattern a bit rough while also discreetly showing off the arrogance of a youth in the midst of his growth phase. Of course, seeing as Yin Long was about five or so years older than the youth yet was still only at the same cultivation realm, it wouldn't be too strange for the youth to show some arrogance. But Yin Long wasn't challenging people to see their personality, he just wanted to see their skills.

"Of course not, I wouldn't have put up that sign if I was going to reject a challenger. What format do you want, first to leave the stage loses, first to get hit loses, first to surrender?"

Yin Long stood up and stretched his body as he spoke, opening his right hand and drawing in the surrounding wind to create a sword that he reinforced with his law of the sword. He was using his soul to create the weapon, but to any onlookers, it would just appear that he used the law of wind and the law of the sword to create his weapon.

The teenager stepped onto the stage after receiving confirmation from Yin Long, his entire demeanour shifting. His gaze stilled as his entire body loosened up, every trace of discreet arrogance vanishing as he cupped his hands and introduced himself.

"This Disciple is known as De Yiu, I am a member of Eagle King Hall. I would like to set the format to first to get hit loses, but the technique I'm working on is a multi-stage technique so I would like to set the format to first to leave the stage or surrender."

The sudden change in demeanour caused Yin Long's eyebrow to raise faintly, it seemed like this De Yiu was someone who turned fairly serious once he actually started training. It was certainly a rather abrupt change that caught Yin Long slightly off guard, but since De Yiu had shown him the proper respect, he would, of course, return it, cupping his hands.

"I'm Yin Long and I belong to Swan Queen Hall. Don't worry about having to change the format, I myself am quite eager to spar for longer than just a single hit."

De Yiu nodded his head seriously and brought out his weapon, a hammer with a metal head larger than Yin Long's own head. Both sides of the hammer's head were flat, but there was a small sharp tip at the very top of the hammer, giving it an additional way of attacking should it be needed. De Yiu grasped the hammer with both hands and held it in a somewhat peculiar backhanded grip rather than raising it over his head, signalling the start of the battle with a soft warning.

"Please be careful."

De Yiu charged forward the moment he finished his words, the energy in his body surging slightly with each step he took. He also ran in a rather strange manner, allowing the head of the hammer to tap the stage once whenever he took a step. There wasn't too much distance between him and Yin Long so the distance was crossed in just a moment, De Yiu exhaling a heavy breath as he changed the grip on his hammer and swept it out at Yin Long's waist.

Yin Long glanced at the attack and decided to deflect it in his standard manner, he moved his sword over to his left hand and brought it upwards in an arching manner. He didn't angle his sword directly beneath the head of the hammer, all the power was gathered there so his hand might suffer if he tried to do so. He instead angled his sword so that it hit the handle of the hammer, just a few centimetres beneath the head of the hammer.

He tried to raise his arm, but the hammer contained far more power than he had accounted for so it didn't move for a split second. He quickly put in as much power as he could, successfully diverting the hammer's trajectory so that it rose above him and smashed through the air above his head.

Yin Long spun his sword down the moment the hammer passed over his head, the shape of the sword morphing until it turned into a rapier. He stabbed the rapier down, but he couldn't twist it to increase the penetrative power due to the backhanded grip he was using. But since this was a sword he had created, making the rounded blade rotate on its own was more than easy enough.

The air in front of De Yiu solidified and formed a wall that blocked the rapier for a split second, giving him enough time to alter his grip on the hammer so that he could bring it crashing down in a diagonal manner. Yin Long bent his knees and torso do dodge, but the speed of the hammer had actually increased compared to earlier so he was forced to pull back his rapier and place it over his head.

The hammer collided with the rapier, Yin Long immediately flicking his wrist so that the hammer made a small jump. Now, rather than head straight for where his head would be, it slid down along the side of the rapier and descended past Yin Long. But as he blocked and deflected the hammer, a slight ache running through his wrist, his guess was confirmed.

The hammer definitely contained more power now than it did during the first swing, and it was an increase that couldn't be achieved by just using the gravity aiding the hammer's descent. The attack was deflected, but De Yiu's eyes only blazed fiercely as he exerted all his might to forcefully alter the direction of the hammer once more.

The diagonally descending smash was turned into a sideways sweep, which had strangely enough gotten even faster despite the forceful alteration. The first time could maybe be considered a coincidence, but Yin Long refused to believe that the same coincidence would appear twice in a row. And as his thoughts moved in that direction, a faint light flashed through his pupils as he reached his guess.

And since he reached his guess, he immediately acted on it. He brought his rapier down so that it collided with the hammer from above, the sword morphing once more. The blade seemingly turned soft as it touched the hammer, actually coiling around it as if it was a whip.

Back when he said farewell to the youths from the Deshi clan, he had received three jade slips containing weapon manuals. One focused on rapid piercing attacks with a rapier, one on relentless and wave-like attacks with a greatsword, and the final one focused on unpredictable attacks utilized using a whip-like sword. The whip-like sword was easily among the most peculiar he had ever encountered, and he had yet to even try it properly, but now he decided that it was a good chance to test it.

The veins on his left arm bulged as he exerted all his physical might, even drawing upon his law of blood to further support his arm. He forced the hammer straight up into the air and then brought it crashing down in a straight line, using the whip-like sword coiled around the hammer to snatch away control over the hammer.

The weapon crashed into the stone stage with a thunderous rumbling sound, a few cracks spreading across the hardened stage. But the cracks quickly repaired themselves, the array within the stage springing into action on its own. De Yiu had been pulled forward slightly as Yin Long yanked the hammer around, a slightly displeased expression on his face. As for Yin Long, he gazed at the repairing cracks and gave a light nod of his head, he had been able to sense just how much force there was in the hammer when his sword wrapped around it.

"I'm guessing that you use the law of force? Is the intent behind your technique to perfectly maintain and amplify the force contained within your hammer after each swing? Each swing makes it stronger and faster, but the recoil should also become stronger, no?"

It was similar to how Lan Yun had taught him how to use his greatsword, fluid and wavy motions to retain as much momentum as possible. The main difference was that he used his law of force to retain every single trace of force and momentum, even amplifying it by using his own law of force and the force the hammer created as it moved.

In theory, it would be able to grow stronger infinitely as long as he got to keep swinging. But the more force he gathered in the weapon, the more force he would have to control and swing around, placing an even greater strain on his body. With his hammer having crashed into the ground and unleashing all the gathered force, and Yin Long's sword still wrapped around it, De Yiu already knew what the outcome of the battle was, sighing softly.

"Yeah, that's what I was going for. But I keep failing, mainly since it seems like its too easy for others to control when the contained force is unleashed, like what you did just now. So gathering up enough force is hard, especially after they learn the trick, then they just play around with me and control the unleashing of the force."

It was a rather classical utilization of the law, but that didn't mean that it was a bad one. If he managed to master it, he would have a devastating skill at his disposal. Yin Long looked down at the hammer, a faint idea popping up in his head as he retracted his sword.

"Hmm, can you try it once more?"

De Yiu wasn't quite certain why Yin Long wanted him to do it again, but the more practice he got the better it was for him. The two stepped away from each other and repeated the start of the battle, De Yiu charging at Yin Long with his strange running manner, which Yin Long now guessed was used to gather up a fair bit of initial force in the hammer.

But when De Yiu swept out with his hammer this time, Yin Long didn't deflect it as he had done previously. He jumped into the air as the hammer was about to hit him, landing on top of the hammer and stepping along the handle, giving his sword an open path to De Yiu's throat.

And since Yin Long was standing on top of the hammer, De Yiu couldn't even raise it to block and could only sigh as the sword stopped in front of his throat. Yin Long hopped down from the hammer, his sword dissipating as he gave an understanding nod of his head.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. It's a good idea, it just needs some fine-tuning, maybe try to find a way to retain the force in the hammer even after it smashes into the ground? Retaining just a little force should help a fair bit. I don't use a hammer or the law of force, so I'd suggest talking to some of the instructors or disciples of your own hall."

He gave what little advice he could to De Yiu, but the first part of his sentence wasn't actually aimed at De Yiu. What he understood wasn't about how easy it was to counter the technique once you knew about it, what he understood was that he may be a bit too stationary while fighting.

He often deflected attacks and dodged by moving his torso, but he wasn't using his feet and lower body as efficiently as he could. Using the battle just now as an example, the deflect and counter-attack allowed De Yiu to launch his own counterattacks, but a simple jump and counter-attack robbed De Yiu of most forms of retaliation. De Yiu didn't understand Yin Long's thoughts, sighing one final time while rubbing his chin.

"Yeah, I'll try talking with Instructor Chou again, he gave me some good pointers last time."

He put away his hammer and rolled his shoulders, expelling any excess force that may still linger in his body. He cupped his hands again after he finished rolling his shoulders, Yin Long responding by cupping his hands and gesturing towards the sign in front of the stage.

"Thank you for the sparring match, I hope you'll train with me once I've gotten some more practice."

"You're welcome anytime, just like the sign says."

De Yiu nodded his head and stepped down from the stage, walking away and vanishing from sight. With the one battle done, Yin Long had managed to attract a little more attention, mainly from people who had coincidentally seen the battle. As a result, he didn't have to wait as long this time before the next challenger approached the stone stage.

--

While Yin Long was engaging in his sparring duels, Xue Qiuling was sitting on the silk-sheeted bed in her room, several luminescent crystals hanging from a chandelier illuminating the large room. She was clad in a light white gown, the relaxing scent of flowers spreading through the room as she was engaged in going through the jade slip she was holding.

Her butler had returned from the Heaven's Secrets Company with the information she had asked him to buy, information she had only bought thanks to Lan Yun. Her words had caused a seed of fear to sprout in Xue Qiuling's heart, a seed she made sure to hide by portraying her charming confidence.

What if Yin Long indeed never told her the truth, what if he didn't tell her the things she wanted to dig out on her own? And as she read through the report delivered by the Heaven's Secrets Company, she started to believe in Lan Yun's words more and more.

The requirements she had set narrowed everything down perfectly, to the point where there was only one clan that fit all of them, the Lang clan. It was larger than their family, it used to be even larger than it was now actually, it had close ties to wolves thanks to their emblem and their ancestor, and there had just recently been someone trying to fight the clan leader.

She got her butler to buy every piece of information the Heaven's Secrets Company had about the person who fought the clan leader, and what she read filled her with nothing but shock. No cultivation manual worked for him, but he was a prodigy with the sword, even managing to defeat several cultivators in sparring matches while using nothing but his skills with the sword.

She then read about the death of his parents and what followed, and she learned what Lan Yun meant when she spoke about the wolf's dark blade. Elders from enemy clans, elders from his own clan, elders belonging to their subordinates, he had assassinated them all one by one, and those were just the kills they knew about.

The most shocking piece of information was located close to the end of the jade slip, where the Heaven's Secrets Company speculated that he had engaged a cultivator at the 1st Immortal Door in a place known as Mirror Lake Village. They didn't have proof that he was the one that fought there, but the timing of the battle lined up too perfectly with his departure from the clan.

And in the end, the jade slipe spoke of the crimes he had been judged for, they didn't know the truth of the matter so they reported on all the murders he had been framed for. And the final thing it reported was his battle against his sister, and his subsequent death and funeral.

Xue Qiuling went through the jade slip several times, going over everything to make sure that she didn't miss a single detail. And after reviewing every description the jade slip contained of Yin Long, even detailing the wound that killed him, which perfectly matched the scar he had shown her, she put down the jade slip. She let out a long breath, her pupils trembling slightly as she was somewhat shaken, the corners of her mouth curling up into an enticing smile.

"No wonder she said that no one would ever know the truth. You've hidden yourself very deeply, haven't you, Lang Yin?"